


Her Oath

by Ilikered



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilikered/pseuds/Ilikered
Summary: "Let me help you""I cant""Just tell me and let me help you""I made a promise, i can't do it"Sarada's in trouble from a mission turned as bad as it can get, how can Boruto help her?
Relationships: Uchiha Sarada/Uzumaki Boruto
Comments: 21
Kudos: 85





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> These characters belong to the Naruto series created by Masashi Kishimoto.

Sasuke got regular messages from his wife every couple of weeks, just stuff like checking up on him. Boruto knew that, knew that this is a regular time for a message to arrived, but he couldn’t help but feel a deep sensation of dread deep in his stomach. The fact that the message in question came via the emergency messenger hawk dedicated to his aunt Sakura didn’t help quench his anxiety, specially after his master immediately summoned his susanoo for quick transportation.

His blond hair flew back, his travelling cloak flapping from the force of the wind, but he was unbothered, figure completely still, eyes focused on the man standing in front of him, who was entirely too focused on maintaining his susanoo and flying them to what Boruto was sure is the hidden leaf.

It took them half a day to get there, all the while Boruto couldn’t think of anything other than his childhood friend.

.

.

.

When they got to the gate of Konoha, and Sasuke had to land and enter by foot for security reasons, Boruto lost his patience.

‘’What’s wrong Sasuke-san?’’ He asked tentatively, not sure whether his master will answer or not, after all Boruto spent 2 years and a half travelling with said man, he knows when he will answer or not.

Just as Boruto expected, his question was met with silence as they silently jogged into the village. He just followed the older man, who looked like he was heading to the village center, where most of Konoha’s important sectors like the hokage office and interrogation unit were present.

Boruto almost ran into his master’s back as he stopped abruptly, turning towards Boruto.

‘’Inform the hokage of our arrival.’’ He said, before turning away from him.

‘’Hey! At Least tell me why we’re here, we were supposed to stay on our trip for at least 6 months more dattebaseh!’’ Boruto said angrily, taking a step towards the black haired man.

Sasuke stayed quiet, taking a step forwards, away from Boruto, before he sighed.

‘’Clan matters.’’

And that was the last thing he told the blond boy before he sprinted away.


	2. Chapter 1

Boruto woke up at noon the next day, finally being able to sleep in his own bed after a full meal prepared by his mother bringing him comfort he was fantasizing about since the first day Sasuke had him sleep in a cave.

His sister had wanted to know everything about his training trip with Sasuke when he arrived home yesterday, to the point where they both stayed up past midnight till Hinata came and shooed them off to bed.

He got up to do his pre travelling morning routine before heading out, first towards the hokage office to deliver the report he was too tired to do yesterday, then he’ll set out to find his friends. 

_ I will be a ninja worthy of being your shadow, I promise! _

The words he said two years ago resonated in his mind, the surprise and then determination evident on the face of the only person who could make him take such an oath stuck in his head.

_ Maybe I’ll go to her house first after seeing dad. _

He wanted to go see her yesterday after visiting his father in his office, but Naruto warned him not to go, saying that they had matters they should resolve on their own, assuring Boruto that Sarada is in good health and not hurt before the younger blond agreed to postpone his visit.

Besides, he stunk, and he wasn’t about to go see a girl he hasn’t seen in two years with two days of travel worth of dirt and sweat.

So he quickened his pace, arriving at the hokage tower earlier than was expected, yet again his father was used to him waking up way later on his days off, but of course Sasuke had knocked that habit out of him.

‘’Hey Uncle Shikamaru!’’ he said upon seeing the man standing outside the hallway of his father’s office, cigarette in hand.

‘’Hey.’’ he answered bluntly.

‘’That’s gotta be the warmest welcome I got.’’ Boruto said sarcastically, eyebrows scrunching in annoyance.

‘’I saw you yesterday Boruto, remember?’’ Shikamaru said, barely able to hold a sigh.

‘’Yeah yeah, anyways I have to give this to Dad.’’ he said, showing the folder to shikamaru before moving forwards past him, but Shikamaru put a hand on his shoulder.

‘’Naruto’s in a confidential meeting, no one is allowed around the hallway leading to the office.’’

Boruto just nodded his head, moving to stand beside shikamaru, understanding why the man was waiting outside the office and thinking about what could be so confidential that the hokage’s right hand man wasn’t allowed to know.

He waited quietly, but the subtle fidgeting after about ten minutes made it clear to Shikamaru that the boy didn’t have much more patience left. The black haired man was hoping that he wouldn’t have to put Boruto under a shadow binding jutsu to keep him from barging in, but after a couple of minutes voices were heard.

Boruto recognized one of the loud voices as his father’s, which was weird since his father rarely raised his voice in the office, the other voice he knew too, sounded different than the last time he heard it, but he could recognize that fire in her voice anywhere.

Boruto had it when he heard a loud crash, as he ran past Shikamaru at top speed before he could catch him with his jutsu, he reached the door handle but it flew open before he could hold it.

And then it felt like the world froze as his eyes met fiery red ones.

‘’Sarada.’’ He muttered as he took her in, his eyes leaving hers in order to look her over before he heard his name being called.

‘’Boruto, come in.’’ His father’s stern voice sounded in his ears, but he didn’t listen to him as all he could think about was how her eyes shone with fury, lips pulled into a scowl and fists clenched tight, even the surprise of seeing him didn’t loosen her up for more than a second.

Sarada tore her gaze from Boruto’s and sidestepped him, walking towards the exit without looking back.

‘’Boruto.’’

Hearing his name a second time struck him out of his strance as his gaze finally met that of his father’s for a second before he moved to follow his former teammate, but he couldn’t take a single step..

‘’Hey! What the hell is going on?!’’ He shouted, his eyes going from Naruto to Shikamaru, who had him stuck in his jutsu. Boruto found himself walking into his father’s office as the door shut behind him, it wasn’t till a second later till he regained control of his body.

‘’Let her cool down Boruto.’’ His father said in his hokage tone, a tone Boruto knew not to argue with on the rare occasions he heard it.

‘’What happened?’’ he asked again, this time more calmly as he moved towards his father’s desk, stepping on something which looked like a white shard, upon closer inspection he noticed that there were red and white shards on the floor.

_ Looks like a smashed ANBU mask. _ He thought, recalling that Sarada had the white and black ANBU uniform on.

Naruto sighed, letting himself fall against the chair and resting his hands on his desk, before they reached for an ANBU mission scroll and tucking it away into his desk, then reaching for one of his cup ramen and turning on the water heater next to his desk.

‘’That was a nice reunion huh?’’ The older man said, in a failed attempt to lighten the mood as his son could still see the slight clench in his fist and what looked like anger at his father’s glance, mixed with something he hasn’t seen in his father’s eyes since the chunin exams.

Disappointment.

But this time, it was not directed at him.

‘’I’m sorry you had to see that, but I can’t disclose anything about ANBU missions.’’

_ ANBU _

The word repeated itself in Boruto’s head as his head moved to the smashed porcelain mask on the floor.

‘’Nor about ANBU operatives.’’ Naruto said before attempting to change the subject to Boruto’s travels, but it didn’t work.

‘’Doesn’t seem she’s an operative anymore.’’ The younger blond pointed out, ‘’Is she okay?’’ he knew that nagging his father about secret matters will get him nothing more than a stern talking to, as Naruto took village and mission secrets seriously, especially to his own friends and family.

Naruto took a long moment before he replied.

‘’I don’t know.’’


	3. Chapter 2

After spending the next hour with his dad, explaining in detail what he learned, Sasuke having been there in the early morning to give him his own mission report, Boruto didn’t need to go into details about those parts of their travels.

Then he went back home to get his sword, feeling weird not having it after carrying it with him everywhere he went for the past year, then he set off to Uchiha household where he knew Sarada would be. She always had a habit of venting to her mom when she was upset.

‘’Boruto, welcome back!’’ He heard the pink haired woman as she pulled him towards her in a hug so tight he could feel his bones crack.

‘’Hey auntie.’’ he replied, gaze landing on the sword on the doorstep he recognized as his master’s, only two pairs of shoes lay next to it, ‘’Is Sarada not here?’’

‘’No, she took off this morning for a meeting with Naruto and hasn’t come back.’’

Boruto detected a hint of sadness in the woman’s voice, but he decided it was rude to ask her, especially before he could speak to Sarada first.

‘’Do you know when she will be back?’’ He asked instead.

‘’She should have been back by now, maybe she’s with ChoCho or her ANBU teammates.’’ she suggested, ‘’ you’re welcome to come in though, you can wait while telling me about your travels, what you learned, saw, if my husband took care of himself properly.’’ she trailed off at the end, gaze shifting towards the room beside the door.

He could practically hear his master’s scoff from the other room.

‘’Maybe another time auntie, I promised mom to have lunch with her and Hima.’’ he said, waving his hand as he turned around and left, heading home.

.

.

.

He couldn’t believe it, it was almost night and he still didn’t get a hold of his black haired former teammate, he even met with InoShikaCho and spent the afternoon with them, who all didn’t have a clue where Sarada is, all expressing their surprise that the girl hasn’t come to find him yet.

It was nearly ten when he finished searching the last training ground in village, where Sarada would likely be if not with her family and friends, he decided to just go home then, thinking that she might still be mad from what happened earlier with the hokage and needing to cool off.

But just as he gave up looking for her, he found her sitting outside his bedroom porch, black meeting blue as soon as he turned his bedroom lights on.

He couldn’t hide his smile as he walked towards the porch and opened the door, their eyes never leaving each others as her smile soon matched his own.

‘’I’m home.’’ he said, not knowing what else to say.

‘’Welcome back.’’ she said, leaning against the railing, he blushed, seeing her eyes roaming over him, inspecting him for every detail that’s changed in the last two years.

She wasn’t wearing her ANBU gear anymore, settling instead for black pants and a red top, black jacket on her shoulders, which were covered by her now long black hair, he also couldn’t help but notice that she filled out in some places, but he tried his hardest not to think about his teammate like that. She looked at ease,her arms hanging loosely, hands laying on the hilts of her swords.

A moment passed before she spoke again, this time taking a step closer so they were only centimeters apart, and then Boruto found himself stuck in his pace for the second time that day, this time from timidity.

_ Is she going to kiss me?! _

‘’You’re only like one centimeter taller than me.’’ She said, stepping aside so that they were shoulder to shoulder, ‘’hey stop slumping.’’ she ordered, not knowing that he was slumping in disappointment.

_ Wait, why am I disappointed?! _

_ ‘’ _ You’re just freakishly tall.’’ he retorted, finding comfort in sliding into their usual banter.

‘’Or you’re just freakishly short.’’

‘’Hey I’m of average height for my age, dattebaseh!’’ He almost shouted if not for the mental reminder that his sister is probably sleeping.

‘’Hm.’’ she uttered, taking a step away and looking at him again, ‘’That’s Dad’s sword.’’ she remarked.

‘’Yeah, he gave it to me like a year ago.’’ he said, stroking the hilt of sword on his waist before continuing, ‘’ Those the swords master sent you?.’’ he asked, gesturing to the twin swords resting on each side of her waist.

‘’Yeah, i’ve been training with them ever since he sent them.’’ she replied, her grip tightening for a barely noticeable moment before she loosened up again, taking a step towards the railing and gripping it, ‘’You remember our promises right?’’

‘’Of course I do.’’ He caught on quickly to what she was implying, as he closed the door behind him and then walked towards her, ‘’ Our old training ground?’’

She scoffed, ‘’Your old training ground, Mitsuki and I still trained there before he left for his parent’s three months ago.’’ she said before jumping off the railing in front of Boruto, leading them towards their favorite training ground.

They continued chatting along the way about random stuff, until the topic landed on the sixth hokage.

‘’You actually convinced that old man to teach you something?!’’ Boruto exclaimed, remembering how hard it was to get him to help him with his rasengan a few years ago.

‘’He taught me all types of things for like a year and a half, until he decided he had nothing more to teach me and decided to go back to do his travels with Guy-san.’’ She said as they arrived at the training grounds.

‘’Got any rules?’’ she asked cockily as they arrived at the empty training grounds.

‘’Yeah, how about we don’t completely demolish this place? I’m sure Dad would be pissed to have more paperwork about ruins.’’ he replied, giving her his own cocky grin, ‘’ if you could bring that out of me anyways.’’

Sarada scoffed,taking her swords out and lunging at him.

.

.

.

Boruto had been to close proximity of the sharingan plenty of times, but he never noticed how...beautiful it was.

_ When you look past the fact that it can drown you in torturous illusions that is. _

That’s all he could think about when Sarada was stradling him,locking his legs in place, arms locked behind his head, a kunai next to them to signal that she could lock them there with said kunai, and one of her twin swords on his neck.

Sarada’s expression was dead serious the entire fight, not breaking her focus for one second, not paying mind to any of his taunts, which would have earned him a mountain breaking punch before, and most importantly, her strikes were barely held back, anger barely evident in her movements, but even after two years separation, Boruto knew her well enough to recognize the absence of her usual gracefulness.

‘’I win.’’ she muttered, voice barely above a whisper as the serious expression on her face disappeared and was replaced instead by a smile.

‘’You win.’’

‘’But you were holding back.’’ she answered back, eyes still on his, sharingan still blazing.

‘’You were too, I could count atleast two instances where you could have killed me.’’

He remarked, having noticed early on that Sarada’s fighting style changed to a more deadly and precise style, which suited ANBU.

Sarada only shrugged before getting up and extending her hand towards the blond boy, who took it and pulled her down, or attempted to as she was still in her place, raising an annoyed eyebrow at him before sighing and sitting down next to him.

They just sat there in silence for a long time, Boruto almost wondered if she was asleep if it weren’t for the faint glow of her red eyes next to him. He wondered why she kept it on but he deduced it was probably to build chakra endurance. More moments passed before he got the courage to ask her what was on his mind since his master got that message yesterday.

‘’What happened?’’ He asked, turning towards her to see that she was looking at him.

The girl just sighed,gaze on the ground, finally turning off her sharingan before she looked at him again.

‘’It’s confidential Boruto.’’ She finally answered, but she knew he won’t have it, Boruto knew she knew so he just raised his eyebrow at her to which she just sighed.

‘’What happened today in dad’s office is confidential right?’’ he asked to which she nodded before he continued, ‘’ Then why did master drag us from Kiri via Susanoo in a hurry? This isn’t just mission related.’’

When she didn’t answer, he continued.

‘’I was worried about you, dad had to promise me you weren’t hurt the day I arrived here so I wouldn’t go to your house, you weren’t okay when I saw you today and aunt Sakura seemed off this morning and-’’

‘’Just stop.’’ she interrupted, and he saw that pure rage in her eyes again before it disappeared and was replaced by what appeared to be sadness. She took a breath before speaking again, ‘’I’m sorry that Dad had to interrupt your training, I’m sorry that you saw what happened this morning with the seventh but this is between my parents, the hokage and I Boruto.’’

Then she got up, taking a final look at him before saying that she had something to do early tomorrow and walking away, leaving Boruto in his place, eyes locked on the Uchiha fan that decorated the back of her jacket.

_ Maybe that symbol is a lot heavier than what I thought... _


	4. Chapter 3

‘’Two years and you still order the same damned thing Dattebaseh.’’

‘’Stop whining you idiot.’’

‘’I’m not whining, I’m just pointing out the fact that you never change.’’

‘’Yes I do!’’

‘’No you don’t !’’

The two Konoha nin continued to bicker as their former classmates watched them with amusement likethe newly arrived Mitsuki, some with boredom, like Shikadai and Inojin, and some didn’t care at all as they continued eating, like ChoCho.

‘’And who has a burger without tomatoes?!’’

‘’People who don’t like tomatoes!’’

‘’You two are still meant to be.’’

Suddenly everyone has gone quiet, the bickering teenagers shifting their gazes towards Mitsuki, who just looked on with a smile. It wasn’t till half a minute later till they processed what he meant, abruptly sitting back down and fiddling with their food.

‘You should have said that twenty minutes ago.’’ Inojin remarked, shikadai nodding in approval while Boruto and Sarada both didn’t seem to hear him, too focussed on not looking at each other.

It took the group a couple of minutes to get back into their earlier dynamics, with Sarada chatting excitedly with Chocho and Mitsuki, while Inojin told Shikadai and Boruto about the latest video game, but it was only a matter of time before a very important question came up.

‘’When are you taking the chunin exams?’’ Mitsuki asked.

All eyes were then on Boruto, who had a mouth full of hamburger, his eyes immediately flying towards his former teammates, Mitsuki giving him his usual innocent grin while Sarada had the cocky smirk he associated with losing against her.

‘’You guys chunin?’’ he asked, shooting them both an accusatory tone.

‘’Yes.’’ Mitsukii, Inojin and ChoCho answered.

‘’No.’’ Sarada said not a second later, her smirk growing wider in a way Boruto did not like at all, while Shikadai just shook his head, already dreading the outburst that wil come their way. 

A beat later Boruto stood up from his seat.

‘’You’re a jonin!’’ he shouted, eyes glaring daggers at Both Shikadai and Sarada..

‘’Since like three months ago.’’ She added nonchalantly, as if she was saying something mundane.

‘’What a drag.’’

‘’That is so unfair dattebaseh! I wasn’t even in the village to compete.’’ He said, slouching back in his chair in defeat.

The group laughed at the blond, and for a second Boruto remembered the times before the whole Kara thing, just for that one second, he remembered what it was like to be that 12 year old genin who’s biggest problem was his Dad not being there for his birthday.

But the sounds of laughter soon died down as Sarada tensed, Boruto was about to reach out when a voice called out to her from the side.

A black haired man stood near them, ANBU mask on and scroll in hand, requesting to speak to Sarada privately, to which she obliged, taking her usual confident strides away from them towards another table, but Boruto spotted it, the slight trace of fear that appeared in her face upon seeing the black colored scroll.

It was then that Boruto understood why the whole group suddenly grew silent.

_ Black means disciplinary action...what the hell did she do? _

First their was his master’s emergency homecoming, then it was the tense situation between her and his dad, who he knew she would rather do anything than disobey, quieting ANBU in a rather violent way, and she hasn’t gone on a single mission these past two weeks he was home in, to his knowledge at least.

He was so absorbed in thought that he didn’t notice Sarada walk back to their table, saying she was summoned and bidding them goodbye hurriedly, immediately walking away ad if afraid of being questioned.

‘’Something’s up with her.’’ he said, eyes still on the door she exited from.

‘’She’s been weird for about two months now, she kinda got better when you got home.’’ Chocho admitted while looking at Boruto.

‘’Weird like how?’’

‘’Kinda withdrawn, less talkative and always in her own head, I tried asking her once but she wouldn’t tell me, you know something?’’

‘’I don’t know anything, did uncle Shikamaru say something Shikadai?’’ Boruto asked, turning towards the black haired boy who looked deep in thought, but in the end he shrugged and shook his head.

Boruto figured he’d catch her later and get to the bottom of this, deciding on finishing up his dinner and going towards her home to wait for her on her porch, hoping that aunt Sakura won’t catch him and force him to enter. He really loved his aunt but he always felt like he was intruding on something when he was alone with her and his master.

By the time he finished, there was only him and Mitsuki left, who offered to walk with him till they reached the road leading up to his home.

‘’I feel like I should tell you about something I heard while at my parent’s.’’ Mitsuki said, taking a look at Boruto to check if he was paying attention to what he is saying, ‘’ Though I suspect this information is secret, I wouldn’t even be telling you if i haven’t already tried to broach the subject with Sarada.’’

‘’What is it Mitsuki?’’ Boruto asked, growing impatient.

‘’My parent’s sources reported that about two months ago, an ANBU troop captain of Konoha had died by Kara’s hands, no traces of his body were found but his teammates reported his death.’’

‘’So? Could not be Sarada’s troop.’’ Boruto pointed out.

‘’The source said that a sharingan wielder was on that team.’’

Boruto stopped in his tracks in shock, eyes widening as his fists clenched, worry and anger boiling inside of him, worry for his teammate, and anger at her not telling him that a teammate died, hiding it instead from all of her friends.

‘’Thanks Mitsuki.’’ He muttered out before taking off on a run towards the hokage mansion, too impatient to wait for Sarada at home.

Nothing fit, why would Sarada be having disagreements with his father and quit ANBU when her teammate died on duty, Boruto knew his father, knew he would never put pressure on a ninja that just suffered the loss of their teammate, but pressuring her into quitting and enforcing disciplinary measures he has yet to know of only made him more confused.

But the thing that has been causing him the most confusion was the fact that Sarada didn’t tell him, the fact that he didn’t notice the underlying traces of pure sadness lurking in her black eyes, they way she’d space out suddenly or even the way she would run away whenever someone noticed that she was acting different.

_ Fuck confidentiality, no one should be forced to keep a secret like that from their loved ones. _

When he arrived to the Hokage mansion, he went straight into his father’s office, which didn’t have anyone other than a shadow clone of his father’s, the blond boy threw an empty ramen cup at the clone, who dodged it but dispelled a moment later.

‘’Brat.’’ He heard Naruto from behind him, who was moving towards his chair, sitting down before speaking again, ‘’ she’s on top of the monuments, you should check up on her, maybe she’ll open up.’’

‘’Why don’t you tell me ?’’ Boruto asked, anger evident in his tone, having had it with how dodgy everyone is.

Naruto just sighed, taking his time thinking of an answer, ‘’ I don’t know Boruto, no one knows for sure what’s going on except her, and she’s refusing to tell me what happened so I was forced to take disciplinary measures under pressure from the ANBU higher ups and the council.’’

‘’Measures under what charge?’’

‘’Boruto…’’ Naruto started, Boruto recognized that tone as his I’m going to give you a lecture tone, so he just ran out of the office, heading towards where his father told him his friend would be.

On the way he tried to convince himself that Sarada wouldn’t have done something bad, for whatever reasons his dad was doing what he was doing, Boruto knew that Sarada would never do something bad, she was never the type to abandon her morals.

_ But maybe that’s what’s gotten her in this mess in the first place…? _


	5. Chapter 4

Boruto expected to find Sarada fuming, punching trees, throwing shuriken around, stuff she usually did when she was angry. What he didn’t expect when he arrived at the hokage monument was to see her trembling form sitting on top of the sixth’s head, head buried between her raised knees.

She sensed him before he could get close, evident by the way her fists clenched and her trembling stopped, trying to pull herself together.

‘’Are you okay?’’ He asked, almost punching himself at the stupid question.

_ Yeah she’s just sitting there in the middle of night crying of joy dumbass. _

Sarada seemed to pick up at his internal berating as she scoffed, finally making her face visible as she laid her head on her knees, arms around her legs in a pose that looked like a child shielding herself.

‘’You’re going to have to tell me what’s going on.’’ He stated, taking a seat beside the black haired girl.

‘’What do you want to know?’’ she asked, showing compliance which is something Boruto thought he’d have to wrangle out of her.

‘’Just like that? What happened to confidential info?’’ he said, tone subtly mocking.

He watched as she took a breath, seeming to find it difficult to speak.

‘’I just got stripped of my Konoha ninja status, so doesn’t make a difference either way, the only thing they can do right now that is worse is put me in jail.’’

Boruto’s eyes widened, his fists clenching in anger, fighting the urge to barge into his father’s office again and demand he fix the situation.

‘’Who was the person that died on your team?’’ He asked, putting everything aside for now in favor of understanding what the hell was going on.

Sarada gave him a confused glance, probably questioning how he knew of that, but she seemed to ignore the question in her head in favor of answering him.

‘’Kenji, my team captain, former team captain.’’ She admitted, her eyes looking over the village he knew she loved more than anything, ‘’He was also a very close friend in the year and a half I spent in ANBU, we even did our training and entrance exams together.’’

‘’Then why didn’t you tell anyone about what happened? And does that have anything to do with what's happening between you and my dad? And about why master came home in a hurry?’’

‘’The hokage knew, I wrote it in my report, but i didn’t put the cause of death cause their was no body to make sure.’’

‘’Then how do you know he isn’t alive somewhere?’’ Boruto asked, clinging to the hope that that person might still be alive, but Sarada just shook her head.

‘’I just know Boruto.’’

‘’How?’’ He insisted, watching as she abruptly hid her face between her knees again, but he didn't see the tremble that was wracking her body earlier reappear, nor the faint sobs.

Before he could speak again, she spoke.

‘’Doesn’t matter Boruto, he just is.’’

‘’What are you hiding Sarada?’’ He asked, moving so he was sitting closer to her, hand instinctively laying on her shoulder.

Few moments passed before Sarada sighed and turned her head towards him. Everything looked normal at first glance, but it took Boruto a second to notice that there are now six tomoes swimming in the pool of red in her eyes instead of three.

‘’Mangekyo?!’’ He exclaimed. All he knew about the eye was what his master had it and some of its abilities.

‘’I got it after Kenji’s death.’’ The girl admitted.

‘’Is that the clan matter Sasuke-San had to attend to?’’ he asked, noting in his head that it didn’t make sense, that kenji died two months ago, long time before Sasuke dragged them back urgently.

‘’It’s complicated Boruto.’’

‘’We have time.’’

Sarada scoffed, ‘’How did my father bear with you for two years?’’

‘’He made up for it by kicking my ass every time we spared.’’ He replied, finding joy in the way they still had the ability to joke during serious discussions.

‘’So..?’’ He continued, to which Sarada just sighed before finally talking.

‘’A month after Kenji died, my teammates and I were in a bad situation where I had to use my amaterasu to get us out of it, that detail of course had to be in the mission report.’’ She stated, eyes going from him towards the hokage tower, ‘’ That rose the question of how I awakened it and why it’s been kept a secret, as it’s known within the higher ups that it can only be attained through witnessing tragedy, most commonly it was through…’’ she stopped, taking a breath, her eyes looking this time towards the grave yards, ‘’ killing a close person by your own hands.’’

Boruto’s eyes widened, in question but mostly in surprise.

_ She would never, not the Sarada he knew. _

‘’I didn’t do it.’’ she said, in a tone that conveyed sheer desperation to be believed, and then it dawned on Boruto that maybe he was the first person to believe her.

‘’I know you didn’t.’’ He admitted, his fists clenching by his side, ‘’ Is that why dad decided to punish you ? Cause he thinks you did it?’’ Boruto felt anger boiling in chest, failing to understand just how his father of all people wouldn’t have faith in Sarada.

‘’It’s not that simple Boruto.’’ She said in exasperation.

‘Then fucking tell me so I can help you dattebaseh!’’ He demanded, getting up from his seat next to her, to which she just stared at him before getting up. 

‘’Walk me home.’’

The demand had Boruto in shock, he was about to angrily retort but Sarada gave him a look that practically begged him to drop the subject.

He had never lost a friend in battle, he could only imagine the pain that entailed, which is why he decided to drop it again, for now.

So they walked, each with their hands in their pockets, Sarada looking straight ahead with sadness in her eyes as Boruto alternated between looking at her and ahead.

‘’I don’t know what happened, but I have faith that you would never kill a hidden leaf ninja, I’m sure dad and your parents and whoever still thinks you did it will come to that realisation soon enough.’’ He said, in a blind attempt to do something that might ease her pain.

‘’Thanks Boruto, but I don’t think their is another way of fixing it other than what I’m thinking off.’’

‘’Which is?’’

Sarada just stared at him, and before she could reply he answered for her in that mocking tone he used since they were kids.

‘’I can’t say, it’s confidential.’’

‘’Annoying.’’ She muttered, small smile on her face, in an amused tone and Boruto thought that he could count tonight as a success, cause at least he managed to get Sarada to smile.


	6. Chapter 5

Sarada prided herself for being the responsible one in her genin team, always making sure Boruto didn’t get in trouble and when he did, she made sure to rescue him. That was just what she did, as if a role assigned to her from birth, having played it since they were both eight.

This time though, just this time, she took the decision to act irresponsibly, cause she had made a word, and even if the seventh would disapprove of her methods, she knew he’ll be proud to know that she inherited his determination to keep her promises.

  
  


_ Kenji...I will destroy every trace of it, as promised. _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ ‘’Captain.’’ Sarada muttered, barely able to take a breath as they finally managed to escape those weird guys that managed to kidnap her troop captain about six hours ago. _

_ She was relieved that their plan to retrieve him worked, but her relief didn’t last as her eyes roamed over his body, checking for injuries, noticing that he had a hand missing, his other hand, uncovered from it’s normal cover of gloves, had what appeared as a mouth on it’s palm. _

_ Explosive clay? She thought, faintly recalling that the last known carrier of the kekkei genkai was a long dead Akatsuki member. _

_ ‘’Kenji…?’’ she started, but her captain interrupted. _

_ ‘’Sarada listen we have to act fast before they find us again.’’ _

_ ‘’The village ain’t far-’’ _

_ ‘’ You know what this is right Uchiha?’’ He interrupted , raising his intact hand towards her, palm up, to which she nodded. _

_ ‘’And of course you are wondering why no one knows of this right?’’  _

_ She nodded again, sildently wondering if this is the time to have this conversation. _

_ ‘’My father passed down this ability, his family had deserted Iwa long before the fourth war, after said war Iwa banned any carrier of this kekkai genkai of reproducing, because of the sheer destructive ability it causes, specially cause the forbidden scroll that makes it much more destructive still is lost.’’ He stopped, looking at Sarada to see if she had processed what he had just said. _

_ ‘’You kept it a secret because of the alliance, Konoha would have had to turn you and your family over as carriers of the kekkei genkai.’’ she said. _

_ Then Iwa would have to take measures to make sure that any current holder of it can’t use it. She thought, trying not to think of all the ways that could be done, not one of them not involving cursed seals that’ll block the entire chakra pathway, severely affecting the physical health of the wielder, or cutting off limbs. _

_ Sarada shuddered, thinking of Kenji’s younger sister. _

_ ‘’They put a seal on me, it locked up my kekkei genkai, it tracks it as well, so they’ll get to me sooner or later.’’ _

_ Sarada still didn’t know where he was going, but she just knew she was not going to like where he was leading to. _

_ ‘’Sarada.’’ he said, and then he wasn’t her captain, but instead he was replaced by the boy she trained with for their final entrance exam into ANBU, the boy she met during those grueling six months of training, who was on her troop since day one. _

_ ‘’If they have it, then there is no way my sister would be kept safe from Iwa… they’ll freak out over the possibility of there being another wilder who could have it stolen, or used against them, or they might even think Konoha is keeping us as war weapons…’’ _

_ ‘’I’m sure cutting off your other hand isn’t the most suitable option kenji.’’ she pointed out. _

_ ‘’Actually, the seal was embedded in my blood, if they retrieve my body they can copy i-’’ _

_ ‘’No.’’ it was then that Sarada comprehended what he was asking her. _

_ No way would she accept what he was implying. _

_ No way would she let a friend, a fellow konoha nin to boot, die because of something as dumb as politics and paranoia. _

_ ‘’The seventh will find a way to cover it up, he won’t agree to have a Konoha nin incapitated.’’ _

_ ‘’It’s not in his hands Sarada, this is much bigger than just that, the ANBU higher ups will know too, so will the elders, and the other higher ups in the village, like your mother, keeping this a secret is just a disaster waiting to happen for them.’’ he said, taking a step closer towards the black haired girl, putting a hand on her shoulder, ‘’I can’t forgive myself Sarada, if they manage to use this ability against my village, my loved ones, they don’t even know my identity yet so they can’t get to my sister and father...you have to promise me that you’ll get back my hand from them and destroy it, and that you’ll take this secret to your grave.’’ he demanded. _

_ ‘’I promise.’’ she said, her vision turning red involuntarily, of course she had no intention of letting him go through with his plan, no one of her friends and teammates will die under her watch, it was an oath she took back when she was twelve, when she, Boruto and Mitsuki got too far close to death after a battle with Deepa. _

_ Then she was pulled into a familiar embrace, one she felt for the first time when she had her first kill as ANBU, but this was different, this had a degree of finality to it, so she held on like her life depended on it, a moment later though she felt herself being pushed onto the ground, chakra seals swiftly covering her hands. _

_ ‘’Fuck kenji let me go!’’ she screamed, pushing against the cuff like seals but to no avail, nothing could break these seals except their waiver. _

_ ‘’As if you weren’t about to knock me out and take me back to Konoha by force.’’ he said, the same cocky smile he always displayed on his face, before it disappeared to be replaced by sadness. _

_ ‘’When I die, the seals should unbound,’’ he said, bending down towards Sarada and placing his Konoha headband next to her, ‘’ give this to my sister Sarada…’’ he got up then, taking one final look at his teammate, ‘’Goodbye, and thank you for being my anchor during those last two years.’’ _

_ With that he walked away. _

_ Sarada continued thrashing around, trying her best to get out, not accepting the fact that she will lose one of her best friends, even when the smell of burning flesh made its way into her nostrils, faint screams of agony replayed in her mind until the cuffs finally have gone loose. _

_ She quickly ran towards the smell of fire, to find her friend’s lifeless body still burning on the ground. She stood there for a couple of minutes, trying not to break down, using all her power to remember her ANBU training. _

_ Keep it in, keep it in, calm down. She repeated in her head as she watched the last of her friend burn, not even realising that tears of blood drenched her face as she struggled to process what just happened. _

_ ‘’I promised, I promised, I promised…’’ she repeated in her head as she rushed to cover up any tracks of what just happened before their teammates came to look for them. _

  
  
  
  



	7. Chapter 6

‘’I’m sorry for your loss, I know you and Captain Kenji were close.’’ The nanadaime said.

She had just submitted her report, mentioning that Kenji disappeared in batte, assumed to be dead.

Sarada knew that lying in her report is an A rank crime, S rank since she is ANBU, but she promised Kenji and they were friends even before they downed the white porcelain masks.

‘’The group that we were following, they ran away before crow and tiger could catch them, disappeared into thin air they said, when will the search troop be deployed?’’ She asked.

Nanadaime stared at her for a few moments, his gaze focussing on her eyes before he sighed and got up from his chair, walking towards her.

‘’I will let you know of everything we gather, Captain Kenji’s death won’t be in vain, I promise you.’’ he said, in the usual bravado Sarada associated with the man, but even that couldn’t lift her spirits up, nonetheless she nodded her head, knowing that arguing wouldn’t get her anywhere.

_ It was avoidable _ , Sarada thought, almost glaring at the man in front of her, for what he could do to her friend and his family, for what he represented. But as quickly as those thoughts came they disappeared, by now she knew that this man isn’t like any other kage or politician for he does what he can to help.

He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her towards him for a few moments before speaking again.

‘’If you want to talk about anything, you can come to me, maybe I can be Uncle Naruto for a day again dattebayo’’

With a final pat on the head and a forced smile from Sarada, she nodded her head before turning away and walking out of the hokage’s office.

.

.

.

Everything seemed wrong, everywhere she went, she thought of him, everyone reminded her of him, not in a good way.

_ ‘’He should have lived, the world should have been peaceful enough for him to be who he is-was and be safe…’’’ _

‘’Oi Sarada, you there?’’ ChoCho’s voice snapped her out of her inner thoughts.

‘’You’ve been weird for the last two weeks, always wandering off mid conversations, you okay?’’ her best friend asked.

But Sarada didn’t have an answer that she could say, she couldn’t tell anyone in the village about this. The only two people Sarada would even consider telling were out of the village training or enjoying a new adventure or resort.

‘’I’m fine ChoCho, just tired from my missions.’’ 

‘’You should take a break sometimes.’’

‘’Yeah I guess, I have to go now, promised mom i’d help her with dinner.’’

And with that Sarada ran off to do her usual routine before going home, sneak into the unofficial ANBU headquarters mission log to check if any info was gathered about the group that took away her best friend.

But as usual for the last three weeks, nothing came up, not for lack of effort as troops were deployed one after the other.

She sighed and got up to go home, but on her way an ANBU operative found her and handed her a mission scroll.

Sarada opened it, hoping to see something about the gang she wanted to hunt down, but instead it was an elimination mission. So she sighed,closing the scroll and running home to get her gear.

  
  


.

.

.

_ ‘’ _ When did you awaken the mangekyou?’’

Sarada’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, taken back by the harshness in the hokage’s tone.

‘’It doesn’t matter.’’ she answered, trying her best not to break down.

She constantly felt like she was cracking up from the inside out since  _ that _ mission, everybody from her mother to the nanadaime pestering her didn’t help.

Now this.

_ ‘’NO!’’ she heard a guttural scream as the missing nin that was about to put a knife through her teammate’s neck burst into black flames. _

_ It wasn’t till said teammate was shaking her that she realised that said scream was hers, and that she was the cause the nin was screaming on the ground, hastily turning off the flames but it was too late, he was already dead, a shared mess. _

_ But that didn’t calm her down as his screams reassembled his, the smell of burned flesh was the same, even the charred remains were like his.  _

_ That was the last thing Sarada remembered before waking up in a hospital bed a few hours later, the familiar softness of her mother’s hand in hers. _

‘’You burnt a man alive, from the report crow submitted you were so out of it she had to knock you out and transport you here on her back.’’ He pointed out.

‘’So? What does that have to do with anything? I could have used my fire jutsu and freaked out, would that land me here?’’ She asked.

Sarada knew that this wasn’t standard procedure for cases like hers, she should have been taken to the mental hospital her own mother founded, cause technically, she is still a child, forced to go through a mental assessment and cleared to go home then to wait for the ANBU officials to notify her of her status.

This was definitely not protocol.

‘’Sarada.’’ Nanadaime said, chillness she had never heard before in his voice, ‘’ How did you awaken the mangekyou?’’

Sarada gulped, ‘’ After Captain Kenji died.’’

‘’But you wrote that he disappeared, not died.’’

‘’Assumed dead Nanadaime.’’ Sarada said, her fists clenching at the fact that he was forcing her to live through that again in her head.

‘’How can you be so sure if no dead body was found?’’ he asked, leaning forwards on his desk.

Sarada was quiet for a moment, her mind not believing what she was being accused off.

‘’What are you implying Nanadaime?’’ She finally blurted out, already knowing the answer to her question.

‘’Nothing, I’m just trying to understand exactly what happened on your previous mission.’’ he responded, cool facade not cracking for a second.

‘’I already told you.’’

A minute passed by in silence before Naruto sighed.

‘’You’re excused Sarada, but you will tell me what happened eventually.’’ The seventh said, Sarada nodded and rushed out of the office not a second later.

Sarada couldn’t believe that the nanadaime, her hero, role model, would accuse her of killing her own team mate.

She couldn’t stop the shaking in her hands as she ran through the village, arriving home and ignoring her mother’s calls for her, heading straight to her room and shutting the door.

_ Hold it together, hold it together . _

_. _

_. _

_. _

It took Sakura a month to lose her patience with her daughter’s strange attitude, her latest mission and the discovery of awakening her mangekyou accelerated the event, much more was the fact that she was informed of such progression from Naruto, not from her daughter herself.

‘’I don’t want to talk about it mom.’’ Sarada said, after a morning full of her mother’s prodding around the subject of her latest missions.

‘’You haven’t been eating,’’ she said, her eyes moving towards the plate of eggs in front of Sarada, who tentatively reached for it and started eating.

‘Not just now, you’re barely sleeping too, always training and mind wandering.’’ 

‘’So?’’

‘’So tell me what’s going on Sarada.’’ she demanded, green eyes staring Sarada right in the eyes.

‘’It’s nothing mom, just some hard missions.’’ Sarada answered in what technically isn’t lies.

Sakura sighed, anger appearing faintly in her green orbs before fading.

‘’Naruto talked to me yesterday night.’’ she said, which made Sarada almost drop her chopsticks.

‘’Wha what did he tell you…?’’

‘’About Kenji...and your eyes.’’ Sakura answered, concern flooding her face as she saw her daughter’s face contorting in anger and in what seemed like betrayal.

‘’He can’t do that! That’s classified info!’’ she almost screamed, getting up from her seat on the table. She knew that he could do that, that her mother was a high ranking official in Konoha, she has access to all the info the seventh has, but she wanted, no needed to say something to stir her mother away from the topic.

But of course that didn’t work.

‘’Someone you considered as your best friend died a month ago and you didn’t tell me.’’ Sakura said, in a almost accusatory tone, ‘’ now Naruto tells me that ANBU higher ups are doing an investigation on his death and that you’re a prime suspect since you refuse to be honest with him.’’

Sarada was speechless, shoulders shaking and fists clenching at her sides, her gaze stuck on the floor, torn between feeling ashamed that she let her mother be worried for her for so long, and anger that she found out all that when she didn’t want anybody to find out, the less people to pressure her for information the better.

‘’Sarada…’’

Her inner turmoil must have been evident as Sakura’s tone considerably softened, standing up from her seat and walking across the dinning table to where Sarada was standing.

‘’Stop it.’’ The girl said, hands raising up to rub at her eyes.

‘’I’m sorry if I pressured you Sarada, but this can’t go on, you have to talk to somebody, anyb-’’

‘’Stop it!’’

Sarada took a step back as she saw her mother startled, she almost scanned the room for threats before she noticed that the reason for her mother’s tension was her own eyes.

‘’I’m sorry.’’ she muttered before she ran out of the house, the now familiar stinging in her eyes clouding her thoughts.

In times like these, when she found that someone was pushing her into a corner to abandon her personal convictions, she liked to be reminded of the man that challenged the whole shinobi world and their laws, the one that made the bell test a staple of acceptance into the Konoha ninja corps.

Which is why she went towards the hokage faces, taking her usual seat on top of the sixth’s head, where she sat for at least two hours, contemplating her conundrum, but not succeeding in finding a solution. She couldn’t even cause her mind kept wandering towards her promise to her late friend.

She had to get that hand back.

.

.

.

After an evening full of training she got back home, silently hoping along the way that her mother was at work, not able to handle the sad look in her eyes anymore.

Instead she was home, along with her father.

‘’Papa.’’ she said, still in shock as she looked at the tall man across the room from her.

‘’Sarada.’’ he replied, taking steps towards her, Sarada noticed and took a step back, as if backing away from a predator.

He stopped in his tracks, eyes going from Sarada towards Sakura, who looked like she was holding herself back from going towards her daughter.

_ Those sad eyes... _ Sarada thought when her eyes locked with her mother’s, gaze immediately looking for something else to look at, she found it on the dining table.

_ A black rimmed scroll... punishment…?  _ She thought as she felt her shoulders tremble at the realisation.

A few moments passed by in silence as Sarada struggled to keep it together but as always, her father surprised her.

‘’I missed you.’’ he admitted, trying again to reproach the girl, this time with slow steps, as if approaching a scared cat.

‘’I missed you too Papa…’’ she responded, tears dripping down her face as she felt her walls crumble.Then, to her own surprise, she flung herself towards the man, grasping his shirt tightly. He immediately held her back, steadying her shaking shoulders.

‘’I didn’t do it, I didn’t I swear I didn’t.’’ she repeated, burying her head in her father’s now wet shirt. He didn’t reply, just held her tighter as she felt her mother’s hand on her back.

Some time passed before she pulled herself together, when Sasuke pulled her away gently, leaning down a bit so they were eye to eye.

‘’We know you didn’t do it…’’ he said, eyes looking at his wife before getting back to Sarada, ‘’ Naruto knows you didn’t do it too, but you’re hiding something important.’’

Sarada just nodded, no use in hiding that fact any longer.

‘’Why aren’t you telling us?’’ this time, her mother spoke.

‘’Cause I promised I wouldn’t talk.’’ She said, before moving away and taking the scroll off the table, ‘’ I have to go to bed, I have an important meeting tomorrow.’’

She then walked into her room, not looking back, as she opened the scroll as soon as she got in.

She was summoned to the hokage’s office for immediate questioning tomorrow morning.

Sarada just sighed, putting the scroll on her bedside table where her team 7 picture resided.

  
_ I wonder how much that idiot changed... _ She thought, before she laid down in her bed, deciding to find him tomorrow. Thoughts of his promise, of his smile, his blue as the sky eyes clouded her head, distracting her of the horrible images that would normally plague her mind before she fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 7

When Sarada told him she had a way of fixing her situation, he thought that she was going to talk with his father, or maybe get the sixth to help her, since they have gotten closer during the past two years for training purposes, or maybe even just admit whatever it is she won’t say to the ANBU officials.

But she did neither of those options, opting instead for running out of the village in the dead of the night, a couple of hours after Boruto dropped her off.

‘’What part of we have to go on the retrieval mission don’t you get dattebaseh!’’ Boruto yelled at his father, slapping his hands on his desk.

‘’ANBU are most suited for this mission Boruto, Mitsuki, Sarada is now an official criminal of Konoha, under grounds of attacking Konoha guards and exiting the village without explicit permission on her probation period.’’ Shikamaru answered, neither Boruto nor Mitsuki acknowledged the black haired man though, both of them had their eyes on the hokage.

‘’Seventh, do you believe Sarada has bad intentions?’’ Mitsuki asked in his usual calm manner.

‘’I don’t.’’ he answered.

‘’Then let us go, we might be able to get to the bottom of this without having to resort to violence, you of all people seventh know the effect genin teammates have on each other.’’ Mitsuki said, as usual, using logic and rationality to get to his goal.

Naruto stayed silent, his eyes lingering on that of his son's, before he replied, barely able to conceal a smile.

‘’You can go, you have two days, if you don’t come back I’m sending ANBU after all of you.’’

With that Boruto took off, Mitsuki following closely after thanking the hokage.

‘’I’ll meet you at the gates in thirty minutes.’’ Boruto ordered, running towards his house.

.

.

.

‘’Are you sure this is where she is headed?’’

‘’She was thinking about that group of crazy scientists and ninjas since her friend died, of course she’d be where the ANBU reported spotting them yesterday.’’ Boruto replied to Mitsuki.

They were running top speed, already halfway towards the land of wind, where ANBU troops reported the presence of the group they were looking for since Sarada’s team encountered them.

They got back to that same place, which the troop found strange.

‘’Mitsuki?’’ 

‘’Yes Boruto?’’

‘’Do you think Sarada would want revenge if it was them that killed her friend…?’’

Mitsuki stayed quiet, which prompted Boruto to look towards him, only to find him smiling.

‘’Huh?’’

‘’You already know the answer Boruto.’’

Boruto just nodded.

He knew some of the stories about his master, how he betrayed the village in search for revenge, how he was driven to extreme lengths to exact revenge, how his father was the reason he returned back.

Then he thought about Sarada, who in no way would even think of sacrificing anything she holds dear for revenge, especially not her rank and reputation.

_ Whatever trouble you got yourself into Sarada, we will save you. _

‘’Boruto.’’ Mitsuki’s voice snapped him out of his reverie, he gestured to a couple of ninja close to them, still not sensing them, they had with them about four people tied together.

‘’The reports did say they kidnapped random travellers in order to conduct experiments.’’ Mitsuki started, reaching to get his headband off, ‘’ Sarada might be with them.’’

‘’They look like ordinary bandits though, no way would they beat Sarada.’’ Boruto pointed out, eye examining the men and their prisoners, noting that they all looked like normal people, not ninja.

‘’Well maybe she let them so they can lead her towards what she wants.’’ Mitsuki stated.

Boruto nodded, thinking that if indeed these weren’t what they were looking for, they might know something, figuring that escaping these guys shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

_ Criminals know about each other. _ His master’s voice resounded in his head, as he pocketed his headband and walked with Mitsuki towards the bandits, feigning surprise and fear as they captured them, waving their kunais at their necks before tying them up.

‘’I think six people are enough to do that kekkei genkai experiment.’’ one of the bandits said, as Boruto’s eyes met Mitsuki’s, who nodded.

_ These might be our guys after all. _

_. _

_. _

_. _

If someone were to ask Boruto what anger looked like, Sarada’s face right now would probably be the first image in his head.

Here she was, the girl that got a whole village full of shinobi on lockdown and high alert, tied with simple ropes and sitting across the cell of him and Mitsuki.

  
  


She got up and walked towards them, pretending to be annoyed from the water dripping from the roof where she was seated.

‘’There are eight ninjas, twenty civilian bandits, four of them are guarding us, and about five scientists and medics, no evidence of any high ranking member of the group except for the scientist conducting the experiments.Report your status.’’ She ordered in a way that made Boruto want to rip his hair out.

_ Dragged us all the way from Konoha and she’s acting arrogant to boot! _

‘’Rescue our idiot teammate from being banned from active duty forever.’’ Boruto whispered angrily.

‘’Who told you i need rescuing!?’’

‘’I don’t know, common sense perhaps!’’

‘’Fuck you, I have this handled.’’

‘’Isn’t it weird that we all had the same infiltration plan.’’ Mitsuki said, in a failed attempt to distract his teammates as they were head to head.

‘’Shut up over there!’’ The guard standing on the other side of the room yelled at them.

‘’Obvious, want to tell us why you are locked here in the first place?’’ he said, this time alot quieter.

‘’Just heard they had good anmitsu, nothing serious.’’ Sarada deadpanned.

‘’How in hell’s name did you get into ANBU.’’

‘’By not hijacking other people’s missions.’’

‘’This is a criminal act!’’

‘’That’s it! The blond and the girl are going to be the first!’’ The man from before shouted, opening up the gate and dragging them both from it, throwing them roughly into the next room, while Mitsuki looked on, smiling at the guard who glared at him.

‘’Look what you did!’’ Boruto and Sarada both shouted at each other, as two people grabbed them by the ropes around their hands and pulled them up, walking them towards a table full of injections, across from it there was another prison cell, which contained dead people with bones protruding from their skin at weird angles.

_ Experiments. _

‘’What now boss?’’ the person that got them there spoke.

‘’We’re done experimenting on the bone pulse kekkei genkai for today, all results were negative, now we’ll start on the explosion release we managed to recuperate a month ago.’’ the old man said, while moving a tray of four injections towards them.

Boruto felt Sarada tense beside him, but she stood still, her eyes narrowing on the injections.

_ Now is the time to break free... _ Boruto thought. But he knew there must be a reason for Sarada’s inaction, he trusted her planning skills. _ Trusting the planning skills of someone who illegally ran away from their own village… is that really a good idea…?  _

The old man looked them over, contemplating on who to try on first, seeming to pick Sarada as the person, ninja, Boruto concluded, pushed her towards him.

‘’I’m going to inject one in each hand girl, don’t fight or else he’ll knock you out which I rather not, this is much more effective when you are awake.’’

‘’What will happen after you inject us?’’ Sarada asked, a very convincing tremble in her voice that could be mistaken for fear, but Boruto knew that from the few times he heard Sarada’s voice tremble, it was often from rage.

‘’I don’t know exactly, this is the first time we managed to make these injections from the DNA we got a while ago.’’ He said, pulling Sarada‘s hand towards him and grabbing the injection.

But he suddenly froze in his place, injection falling to the ground.

‘’Boss!?’’ the ninja said, leaving Sarada’s side and shaking the old man.

‘’Genjut-’’ he was interrupted as Sarada’s foot landed on his stomach, knocking him into a wall.

‘’Come on Boruto, let’s take them out.’’ She ordered, easily breaking the ropes around her hands and cutting Boruto’s off too, before knocking the scientist unconscious.

‘’Hey! Get them!’’ a man shouted, as six other men flooded the room.

_ The ninjas Sarada mentioned.  _ Boruto thought, creating two shadow clones and lunging towards the ninja, commotion being heard from the room next to them.

_ Mitsuki. _

Boruto evaded a kunai to the hip as he punched the guy out cold, sensing one of his shadow clones disbanding he turned around to block a kick, breaking his leg and throwing the guy away.

He looked towards Sarada to see that she took out four of the ninjas, and was now putting genjutsus on the scientists.

‘’Hey what are you doing?’’ He asked, Mitsuki walking towards them calmly from behind him.

‘’You set those guys loose?’’ Sarada asked Mitsuki,referring to the prisoners, ignoring Boruto’s question.

‘’I did.’’

‘’Hey databaseh, I asked you a quest-’’

‘’I’m getting information from them.’’ she interrupted, knocking out the last of her genjutsu’d scientists before standing up and walking towards a chamber at the far end of the room.

‘’This chamber has all the kekkei genkai these people managed to steal, that’s why they kept coming back here cause they didn’t have any where else to store them safely, though they were in the process of moving here that’s why there are few ninja.’’ she said, punching in a code on the board.

The chamber opened and she walked inside.

Boruto and Mitsuki followed looking around them.

‘’Byakugan!?’’ Boruto said, surprised at finding the dojutsu here.

‘’There are all kinds of kekkei genkai and DNA samples here.’’ Mitsuki said, gaze lingering on Sarada, who appeared to be looking for something, fumbling and pushing items away.

She seemed to find it as she froze in her place, gaze locking on a large tube, containing a severed hand swimming in green liquid.

The words ‘’Explosion release, Konoha ANBU.’’ were written under it.

It was then that it dawned on Boruto the reason why they were here, it wasn’t to capture the ones who killed her teammate, it was to protect his legacy.

‘’Hey Sarada…’’ Boruto started, reaching with his hand towards the girl’s shoulder, but he froze in his spot upon hearing a loud smack.

He looked to the ground and saw the hand holding tube on the ground.

Sarada then moved away and threw everything that was present on the shelves on the ground as Boruto and Mitsuki only watched Boruto out of confusion as Mitsuki seemed to understand.

‘’Mitsuki, Boruto...get everyone out of this place.’’ she ordered, not sparing them a glance as she fumbled through files before pushing them on the ground.]

He was about to object when Mitsuki grabbed him by the arm and gestured towards the fallen ninja on the ground.

So Boruto obliged, helping Mitsuki moving them two by two and throwing them out, when the final one was out, Boruto moved to get back in but Mitsuki stopped him.

‘’Give her a moment.’’

So Boruto waited,till he smelled the smell of burning, he was about to rush in when he saw Sarada walk out, trail of black flames following her till it stopped at the end of the hideout.

In that moment, Boruto saw something he has never seen from his black haired teammate before, he saw the sheer power she possesses. Boruto knew now why the Konoha higher ups were freaking out when Sarada illegally left the village.

  
_ Idiots...thinking she’d ever harm the village.  _ Boruto thought, his eyes still fixated on the girl in front of him, their eyes meeting for what felt like years.


	9. Chapter 8

If Mitsuki was surprised there were six tomoes instead of three in Sarada’s eyes, he didn’t show it as the girl pulled a mini scroll from her pocket and opened it, dripping blood from her finger to activate it, the ANBU seal appearing on it.

‘’This is a summon seal, summons the closest ANBU troop, should be here in a short while.’’ She said, taking a deep breath and looking towards them.

‘’Are you here to arrest me?’’ she asked, looking between the two.

‘’On official terms yes.’’ mitsuki responded, displaying his usual neutral smile.

‘’And on real terms?’’ the girl asked crossing her arms in annoyance.

_ As if they weren’t the ones that had to chase her down dattebaseh! _

‘’Depends on what the hell has been going on for the last month.’’ Boruto blurted out, crossing his arms and taking steps closer so he was eye to eye with Sarada.

‘’One more destination, and you can take me.’’

‘’Or else?’’Boruto taunted.

‘’I’ll knock you both out and go.’’

‘’As if you can.’’

‘’I’ll try.’’

Blue stared at her now black orbs, each daring the other to back down, but in the end it was Boruto who did.

‘’Is it far away?’’ he asked.

‘’About an hour.’’ she said, turning to lead the way, but Boruto’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

‘’You’re going to have to tell us Sarada.’’ He said, his eyes peering into Sarada’s orbs. 

‘’You know you can trust us with anything, we’ll always be team 7.’’ Mitsuki added.

Sarada hesitated for a moment before showing a small smile, ‘’ I will tell you everything.’’

With those final words Boruto and Mitsuki followed after Sarada who ran top speed towards the destination unknown for the two boys.

.

.

.

Sarada had led them towards a deep forest at the edge of the land of fire, thick foliage making this place perfect for hiding.

Boruto and Mitsuki walked behind Sarada silently, both looking around for any hint as to where Sarada was taking them, till she suddenly stopped and Boruto almost crashed into her back.

‘’Wha-’’ he interrupted himself, his eyes immediately landing on what was in front of Sarada.

_ A grave…?  _ Boruto thought, his eyes examining the thick patch of dirt, a stick on it’s edge, a Konoha headband hanging from it. Upon closer inspection, he realised that that trademark red headband belongs to Sarada.

‘’Captain.’’ The girl muttered, crouching down in front of the grave, fingers gently touching the dirt.

Understanding dawned on Boruto and Mitsuki then, who both lowered their heads in respect for a fallen Konoha comrade.

‘’I will tell you a condensed version of what’s been going on, everything I will say now is top secret to just us three.’’ Sarada stated, getting up and facing the boys, who both nodded.

‘’That hand I burned, it belonged to Kenji, they managed to steal it from him and were planning to copy it, so before his death I promised him to destroy it…’’ Sarada started, taking a sharp intake of breath, as if it was the hardest thing in the world to tell this story, ‘’That kekkei genkai, explosion release, is instinct because it’s wielders were forbidden from procreating, and they had put up a seal that would have copied his DNA have they found his body, thus Kenji was forced to…’’

Sarada trailed off as Mitsuki nodded, appearing to understand where she was going with this as Boruto looked between the two in confusion, when Sarada didn’t continue, Mitsuki answered Boruto’s silent question.

‘’He committed suicide so that no one would know that he had this particular ability and go after his family.’’

Sarada merely nodded as Boruto’s fists clenched.

‘’ So? My dad would have explained the situation and-’’

‘’The elders, ANBU officials and the five kage will all have been involved, seventh doesn’t have the power to overrule them all, especially not on something they would all agree on being a threat to the so called peace they have.’’ Sarada stated.

‘’That’s bullshit!’’ Boruto screamed, expecting Sarada to argue with him, to yell and tell him that it’s the ninja law, that the kages have to agree on everything in order to evade problems.

‘’It is…’’ Sarada said, tone sounding almost defeated, but her fists clenched and her eyes shone with determination as she turned away from them and towards the grave.

‘’I promise you Kenji...I will keep your sister safe, and I will change the still messed up system we ninja call the shinobi code...I never go back on my word.’’ Sarada declared, her gaze on the grave, leaning down and touching her headband for the last time before she got up and turned away, not noticing a small white snake laying some white Chrysanthemum on the grave in respect before slipping back into Mitsuki’s sleeve.

.

.

.

As they were on their way towards Konoha, not one of them uttering a word, Boruto broke the silence.

‘’That’s why you refused to clear your name, you can’t say how your captain died without stating why.’’ Boruto said, to which Sarada only nodded, so he continued.

‘’But Sarada! You’re going to be faced with prison charges now, that’s other than you being the prime suspect on this case!’’

‘’I promised Boruto, I will not say a word about this.’’

‘’But Dad-’’

‘’Is forced to tell the ANBU higher ups as those are his duties as acting hokage.’’

Boruto kept quiet, thinking it through.

_ No way am I going to let her get charged with disloyalty. _

An idea suddenly came to him as he stopped in his tracks.

‘’Hey! I remembered I have to do something in the hidden sand, I’ll be right after you.’’ he said, not even waiting to hear a reply as he rushed away, intent on finding the only man that could get Sarada out of this with no questions asked on his authority.


	10. Chapter 9

Boruto ran as fast as he could, intent on arriving to Konoha as fast as he could manage to ensure Sarada doesn’t get into any more serious trouble, but the old man behind him wasn’t allowing it.

‘’Come on Uncle Kakashi, I want to get there before sun down dattebaseh!’’ Boruto yelled behind his back towards Kakashi, who was running behind him at a very gingerly pace.

It was a mere coincidence that he heard from his father that Kakashi was in a Suna resort for the week.

‘’Calm down Boruto, you might trip on a twig.’’ Kakashi responded, still continuing in his pace,

‘’You can use this time and tell me what you want.’’

‘’What I want is for you to help Sarada.’’

‘’I hardly think there is something I can help her with her father and Naruto couldn’t.’’ Kakashi admitted.

‘’There is, actually it’s something only you and grandma Tsunade could do.’’ Boruto said.

Kakashi was about to respond when Boruto tripped and fell, startling him before he chuckled, continuing on his way towards the village.

‘’Hey! Wait for me old man dattebaseh!’’

.

.

.

Sarada had been in jail for about twenty-four hours when her former mentor dropped in for a “evening visit’’ as he called it.

‘’When Boruto dragged me all the way from Suna, I truly didn’t expect he wanted me to break you out of jail.’’Kakashi said, as he casually opened the gate and walked in.

‘’I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.’’ Sarada mentioned.

‘’Probably wasn’t supposed to read icha icha in front of twelve year olds too, but they turned out well.’’

‘’Sixth, why are you here?’’Sarada said, neglecting to comment on his obvious jibe.

‘’Well you see, Boruto seems to think that I can use my ability as former hokage to leverage you out of here, since I am a former hokage I have no political obligation to justify my actions to any authority, be it higher or equal.’’ Kakashi explained, pocketing his book and sitting down on the floor across from Sarada, displaying his usual smile all the while, ‘’Now, care to tell me what it is that Boruto is so sure I will understand?’’

.

.

.

‘’Boruto, you’ve been standing there for the last three hours, shouldn’t you be home after coming back from your mission?’’ Naruto’s tired voice drew, his eyes never leaving his paperwork.

‘’I missed you.’’ Boruto deadpanned as a nerve appeared on Naruto’s forehead.

‘’I forbid you from spending anymore time with Sasuke, his twisted sense of humour is rubbing off on you.’’

‘’You’re just jealous he’s cooler than you.’’

‘’I’m the hokage, instant coolest person in village.’’

‘’Technically master Sasuke isn’t a Konoha shinobi.’’

‘’Oi! Shut it dattebayo!’’

‘’Pfft.’’

A couple of minutes passed in silence before Shikamaru came into the office.

‘’Something really tiresome just happened.’’ 

‘’Don’t tell me the feudal lord’s cats got lost around the village again, there is only so many cats a woman can have.’’ Naruto said, already racing for a D rank mission scroll to fill out, not noticing the devious smirk on his son's face.

‘’This is actually so much more troublesome.’’ Shikamaru said, hand rubbing at his neck.

Naruto opened his mouth to inquire when the doors to his office smashed open. All three shinobi in the office stiffened for a moment before realising that it’s the elders..

‘’Seventh! You absolutely cannot let this happen!.’’ the man shouted before the other woman continued.

‘’This is an insult to every ANBU who died on duty, we absolutely cannot accept such blasphemy based on the whim of-’’

‘’Lord sixth.’’ Shikamaru was the first to acknowledge the man’s presence as his figure appeared in the doorway.

‘’Kakashi-sensei!’’

‘’Shikamaru, Naruto,...elders.’’ Kakashi greeted, just barely hiding his contempt from the elders before shooting Boruto, who stood to the side, a thumbs up.

‘’Naruto, since the official release scroll hasn’t reached you yet, may I have a word with you? Alone?’’

‘’Sure…’’

The two elders were about to object when Shikamaru opened the doors, his eyes flying to them, clearly saying that the hokage’s orders couldn’t be refused in his own office.

‘’That means you too Boruto.’’ Shikamaru said, but Kakashi made a sit down gesture with his hand, so Boruto stayed put.

‘’Can you please tell me what the hell is going on Kakashi-sensei?’’ Naruto said, flopping down on his chair.

‘’Gladly.’’ Kakashi said, smiling at Boruto, who in turn had a smug smile on his face.

‘’I am not going to like this huh?’’

‘’I assume you’re going to hate the consequences it will entail with the elders, not the action itself, for I am sure you would have done the same if the same privileges were available to you.’’ Kakashi said, handing Naruto a scroll. 

Naruto read through the scroll casually, before the name of the released prisoner registered in his head.

‘’What!?’’ He exclaimed, trying to remember what law stated that former hokages can release Konoha shinobi from prison without any intervention from other authorities.

‘’How did I not know this dattebayo.’’ Naruto asked, more to himself rather than anyone else.

‘’I actually made that rule during my time, so that Tsunade could pardon Sasuke without the elders intervention.’’

‘’I see, well I can’t do anything about this, not that I want to, it was the elders that insisted she be put there in the first place.’’ Naruto started, folding up the scroll and putting it in his drawer, ‘’ Though I am curious what tempted you to come here to pardon her, and why exactly you did.’’

‘’Let’s just say my teachings have been passed onto the next generation safely.’’ Kakashi said, turning away and walking towards the door.

‘’I don’t know what you did but I’m sure you had a part in this.’’ Naruto said, his eyes meeting Boruto’s for a second before getting up and putting on his cloak, ‘’ Now I have to go and deal with those two geezers.’’

‘’Goodluck.’’ Boruto said, apparent glee in his voice.

‘’Shut up dattebayo.’’ Boruto heard his father mutter before he jumped from the window towards his home, where he was sure she would be waiting for him.

.

.

.

‘’Took you long enough.’’ He heard as he landed on his balcony, this time not bothering to get in through his home door.

‘’Sorry, I was busy fixing an idiot’s mess, all’s well though.’’ Boruto replied, expecting a snarky retort but instead he was taken aback as her weight crashed against him and her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

‘’Thank you.’’ He heard what must have been the first time Sarada’s voice had been so soft as his arms wrapped around her waist and head layed on her shoulder.

‘’Anything for you.’’ Boruto said, his mind catching up to what he said a second too late as Sarada abruptly pulled away.

He looked at her wide eyes and slightly gaped mouth as his brain rushed to find someway to fix the situation,but it soon froze in pure confusion when Sarada smiled at him. A full beaming smile he could count on one hand the times he saw it during his lifetime.

‘’I’d do anything for you too...I promise.’’ She said, her hand slowly descending from his shoulder and taking its place at her side. Then they were just staring at each other for what seemed like forever before she broke the silence.

‘’So I think I owe you dinner.’’

‘’And dessert.’’ Boruto added.

‘’And dessert.’’

‘’And coffee.’’ A third voice said,Boruto and Sarada not needing to look to know who it was as they both smiled.

‘’Come on then.’’ The blond boy said, jumping off from the balcony, ‘’Race you to thunder burger!’’


End file.
